Paint (an Escape) by Numbers
by fanfictor101
Summary: Robert had lied. The papers weren't signed. And now she was stuck. She couldn't think. She couldn't breath. All she could hear was her family arguing. All she could feel was her chest getting tighter. Until she heard those words: "one - two - three." AU oneshot of season 2 with some good Jesus/Callie sibling bonding.


_**Author's Note: Takes place in season 2 - somewhat AU version of Robert not signing the papers, but premise remains the same. Jude is adopted, Callie isn't.**_

Callie sat on the stairs, her head bent down towards her knees, arms locked behind her neck. This wasn't real. She hadn't come this far only to lose now. She shouldn't have bothered to hope. Disappointment was all it got her in the end.

"What do you mean he didn't sign the papers? He promised Callie they were signed and in the mail!" Stef cried. Their lawyer shook her head.

"I'm sorry Stef, but there was an issue with the signing that made them invalid and he refused to do it again."

"An issue?" Lena asked. She shook her head. "The only issue here is the fact that you're telling me I still can't adopt my daughter."

"I swear he planned this," Stef muttered as she paced the foyer. Callie wouldn't have put it past him. Did he even sign them in the first place or had that been a lie too? Something to make him seem like Mr Nice Guy when in reality he was slowly ruining the best thing Callie had had in years.

"Are you gonna take her again?" Callie's eyes snapped to Jude as he entered the room, standing hesitantly in the doorway.

"Buddy, don't worry. Okay? Go back into the kitchen with the others," Lena replied quietly.

"No!" he exclaimed. He stood up straighter, his eyes taking on a sharper appearance. "Are they taking her? Is Callie leaving?"

"Moms won't let them," Brandon answered from behind him, walking in with Mariana and Jesus.

"Guys, can you give us some space please?" Stef sighed, her hand running through her hair. Lena, reached over and placed her hand on Stef's arm in an attempt to calm her.

"I just don't understand how this happened," she stated quietly.

"It happened because Robert's an ass," Stef huffed.

"Stef, language."

"He deserves it!" Silence fell over the room. "So what now? What do we do? How can we get this all over with? When will we be done?"

 _Get it over with._ It was an annoyance. One more thing for them to deal with. More money to go to lawyers to fight for something they shouldn't. And it was Callie's fault. It was all her fault. She should've known better. She should've known it couldn't happen. She wasn't supposed to be happy. She wasn't supposed to be loved.

She felt her breaths getting shallower as she went over everything in her mind. She was ruining the Adams Fosters. They didn't have the money to fight for her. They didn't have the money to support her - to keep her! They didn't even have the mental state to be dealing with this. They just lost the baby, now wasn't the time for Callie to cause more stress. They shouldn't even care. She was just a foster kid. Just Jude's sister. An obligation - that's all she'd ever be. She was a second thought, a second choice - always second when it came to her brother, when it came to her life. She thought she would finally get a chance. Maybe the universe hadn't hated her after all - what a joke!

Her hands closed into fists, her breaths became quicker. They were still talking. They were discussing what to do now. How much would it cost? When would it be done? Jude was arguing, Mariana was shouting, Stef was pacing, Lena was crying, Brandon was saying something...what...she couldn't….

"One - two - three." A voice broke through the noise. Suddenly it was quiet.

"Jesus, what on earth -" Stef started.

"Come on Callie," he said softly. She felt him take a hold of her fists and bring them down to her side. "One - two - three."

She embraced the silence, feeling the hands gripping her fists, bringing her back. Grounding her.

"Italy…" she mumbled.

"Can't hear you," he replied. She took a deep breath and looked up. Jesus was crouched on the stairs in front of her, his hands holding her steady.

"Italy," she answered clearly. He gave her a small smile.

"Italy's pretty cool. Four - five - six?"

Callie took a shuddered breath. "Rome. In the Colosseum."

"Really? I'd go to Pisa. See the leaning tower. Take the picture holding it up."

She shook her head slightly, "Too cliche."

"Yeah," he laughed, "because the Colosseum isn't cliche at all."

"Whatever. I'm allowed to pick what I want," she smirked.

"Seven - eight - nine?"

She smiled as her thoughts drifted.

 _She stifled her laugh as Jesus jumped at the movie again._

" _You need a break?" she chuckled softly._

" _For the record, scary movies are a lot worse when it's dark and cold and stormy. And second of all, I wasn't jumping because of the movie, I was jumping because I thought I heard moms coming down. They would kill us for doing this."_

" _Uh huh - sure."_

" _You know what -" Jesus grabbed the remote and shut the TV off. "You don't deserve to see the ending."_

" _Yeah, that's why you shut it off."_

" _Completely true."_

" _Whatever," she laughed. She turned her head and stared out at the rain hitting the street. They'd been doing this for a few weeks now, sneaking downstairs after midnight to watch the movies the moms forbid. It had started with a contest to see who was grossed out the fastest. Moms had shut that down before it had begun...at least until he'd sneaked into her room at night to wake her up. After that it became their tradition. Their escape. It was fun. She'd never had this kind of younger brother before - the one she didn't need to mother, the one she could just be friends and joke around with. "Hey Jesus, where would you go? If you could go anywhere in the world?"_

" _Umm, do I have to pay to get there?"_

 _She shook her head, "Nah, you're rich now."_

" _I'd go...I dunno. Maybe Iceland."_

" _Iceland? Why Iceland?"_

" _Seems_ _ **cool**_ _," he smirked._

 _She smothered her laugh with her hand, "Terrible pun. Just awful."_

" _Made you laugh, didn't it?"_

" _Seriously - why there?"_

" _I don't know. I mean there are volcanoes and all kinds of cool things. And it's small enough you can just drive around and hike random places. I think I'd like it."_

 _She leaned her head on her hand and turned away from the window to face him. "What would you see there?"_

" _What is this - 20 questions?"_

" _Nope, just three. And you're on number two."_

" _Alright - I'd see...I don't know what's in Iceland. Isn't that where the sex museum is?"_

 _She laughed, "How would I know? See the northern lights. They're free."_

" _I'll do that then," he smirked._

" _Question three - what would you eat?"_

" _Everything."_

" _Just have all of it?"_

" _Oh yeah. That it? Am I done?"_

" _For now," she nodded._

" _Okay, your turn. Where do you wanna be?"_

" _Ireland."_

" _Ireland? That sounds cool. Where would you take your pics?"_

" _What?" she laughed._

" _Where would you go? What do you wanna see?"_

" _Umm, the cliffs. And the water. Just all of the coast."_

" _And what will you eat?"_

" _What do Irish people eat?"_

" _I don't know," he shrugged. "Haggis is Scotland."_

" _We'll do that on the next trip."_

" _Eat haggis?"_

" _Pick Scotland."_

" _Got it. You can just eat everything in Ireland too. Or drink the beer. They have good beer there, right?"_

" _I don't know."_

" _Guess we should research this stuff before we head across an ocean," he chuckled._

" _Maybe," she replied with a soft smile. She leaned her head back into the couch and sighed, picturing the coast with cliffs and crashing waves._

" _If we're gonna keep playing this game we may want to make it quicker to go through though."_

" _What do you mean?" she asked, lifting her head._

" _Questions are so long to ask," he complained, throwing himself back into the couch. They both turned to the stairs at a slight sound, freezing in fear of their moms. The room stayed silent and they took a relaxed breath._

" _So what you're saying is you're lazy," she replied._

" _Oh yeah, you should know that by now. So what do you say? One - two - three?"_

" _What?"_

 _He gave her an amused look, "One - two - three, where do you wanna be?"_

" _We're rhyming now?"_

" _Makes it easier," he shrugged._

 _She gave a small smirk, "Four - five - six, where do you take your pics?"_

 _He stuck his tongue out quickly. "Mock me for making life easier."_

" _Seven - eight - nine…" Callie trailed off._

"Callie!" Jesus called. Callie's gaze snapped to him. "Seven - eight - nine?"

"Where you gonna dine?" she finished. He smiled and gave her hands a squeeze.

"Yeah."

"Anywhere with spaghetti," she smiled.

"I'd pick pizza."

"I can alternate between days."

"Guess we'll have time to try it all." He glanced down for a moment, returning to her gaze quickly. "Robert's gonna sign the papers. Moms will make him. And you're gonna be adopted and live here until you're old enough that they kick you out. And we'll do it. We'll hit the list. Starting with Iceland."

"Ending with Italy," she smiled.

"Filling in the rest as we go. Ireland, Scotland, England, France…"

"Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Spain."

"We'll try the food, you'll take the pictures, and then we'll come back and make everyone else jealous. That's our plan. That's our future. Sound good?"

Callie looked down into the foyer, her family staring back at her. They were confused. Confused, angry, annoyed, but underneath it all Callie saw it. That look in their eyes. It was in all of them. When Stef kissed her goodnight, or Lena hugged her so tight Callie thought she would never let go. When Brandon asked her to play a song with him, or when Mariana was missing Zac and just asked to be distracted. When Jesus was struggling with passing classes, or when Jude picked to sit beside her during movie night. What was shown strongest was their love. Their love for her. They would do whatever it took. She knew they would.

"I'm not living here until they kick me out. I'm not that bad," she replied, turning back to Jesus.

He shrugged, "Well, we'll see about that."

"But everything else? Yeah, it sounds good."

"Good," he smiled. He gave her hand one more squeeze and then turned to the family and their lawyer. "So let's get our girl adopted."


End file.
